3 Takeaways From NBA 2018 Opening Night

Philly can't hang with the Celtics, PG-13 playing like an MVP, and Kenny celebrates his 20th year with NBA on TNT.

Joel Embiid (23 points, 10 boards) and Ben Simmons (19 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists) had monster games, but the supporting cast came up lame. JJ Redick chipped in 16, but no other Sixers player had more than Robert Covington’s 8 points.

The Celtics, on the other hand, have an abundance of talent and last night just reinforced how hard it’s going to be for Brad Stevens to get shots for everybody.

When Jayson Tatum leads the team with 23 points and Marcus Morris comes off the bench to drop 16 points in 20 minutes and the Celtics still win by 18, then that’s scary. However, as the year progresses Gordon Hayward will not be happy averaging 10 points per game Celtics and Kyrie Irving didn’t even reach double figures on Tuesday night (7 points) so he’s got to be a little tight.

Stevens is basically starting five potential All-stars and has a powerful bench that could compete with many Eastern Conference starting lineups. Looking into the future, there’s no way he can keep this team together past this season. It’s go for the gusto time and if everyone sacrifices for this one season, I don’t see how Philly has the manpower to go against the Green Machine.

OKC isn’t the same caliber team as Houston or Golden State, but PG-13 and Dennis Schroder kept them competitive with Golden State’s array of point pumpers. The Warriors big guns did what they always do and Paul tried to single-handedly keep OKC in the game. He’s going to have to do some heavy lifting on the offensive end with Westbrook out, but he seems more than up to the task.

Kenny Smith Celebrates 20th Year With NBA on TNT Studio

The gang’s back together again and it’s a special season for two-time NBA champion Kenny “Jet” Smith, who enters his second decade as a contributor to the NBA on TNT team. He’s been a key figure in the meteoric evolution of the show.

Kenny goes on a walk down memory lane to revisit some of this memorable moments at TNT. Watch highlights from Inside the NBA with Shaq, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson and more!

In celebration of Kenny’s milestone, Shaq, Ernie, and Charles were in midseason form last night, as the award-winning NBA show has morphed into more than just pre and post-game coverage. The crossover celebrity rise of these iconic hosts has resulted in a cornucopia of theatrical themes, off the cuff comedy and self-promotion, but when you see the NBA’s “Core Four” together it’s like a perfect symphony of High IQ basketball, bullsh*tting and brilliant buffoonery that makes the show the heart of NBA basketball coverage.

JR Gamble joined The Shadow League in 2012. The Deputy Editor and Senior Writer is in his 23rd year of covering sports and culture professionally. He has covered a wide variety of major sports and entertainment topics across different mediums, including radio, magazines and national TV.

His passion is baseball, the culturing of baseball and preserving and documenting the historically-impactful accomplishments and contributions of African-Americans in baseball.